Investors have pledged to follow through on about 100 tourism projects in the southern Vietnamese beach destination of Ba Ria-Vung Tau after several major ones have been canceled due to delays.

Nguyen Van Son, deputy director of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism said that as of late August, the province had officially registered 154 tourism investment projects with more than US$13.9 billion in registered capital, the Saigon Times news website reported on August 31.

But about 70 percent of these plans have yet to be carried out due to the economic slump, site clearance difficulties, and a new tax law for non-agricultural land that became effective early this year, Son said.

After some delayed projects were revoked lately, investors have promised to carry out around 100 others next year and most hoped to finish the first stage of their projects between 2014-2016, he added.

Among the projects expected to be carried out next year are the Saigon Atlantis, a hotel project aided by American investors with a registered capital of $4.1 billion and the Ho Tram Strip, a resort project with $4.2 billion in registered capital.

Ho Tram Strip is currently the largest project in southern Vietnam, Son claimed.

Recently-canceled projects in the province include two major ones, which were the Vung Tau Paradise resort, worth an estimated $97 million, and the Thi Vai international port, worth some $56 million.

Around 5.6 million tourists visited Ba Ria-Vung Tau in the first eight months this year. The figure was a 12.9 percent increase over the same period last year, the Saigon Times reported.